photo courtesy of Simon Whitehouse

Vini Reilly marked Tony Wilson’s passing with the remarkable “A Paean for Wilson” LP. With a nod to AHW’s baldly stated appraisal of Vini’s vocal talents, the work was entirely instrumental and allowed Reilly to deliver some of his most emotive and accomplished playing to date.

It was only right and proper then, that the band should find themselves in Tony’s home town, on the 24th of January, no less, performing the album in its entirety in a quasi-classical atmosphere.

The band assembled for this performance was Vini accompanied by Durutti stalwarts Bruce Mitchell and Keir Stewart alongside returnees Tim Kellett and John Metcalfe with Poppy Morgan on keyboards.

Durutti fans will be familiar with the informal and occasionally chaotic nature of some of their gigs with Reilly’s self-deprecating humour and occasional bum note juxtaposed with his astonishing virtuosity. Tonight was something different. From the opening, jolting, looped sample of Wilson’s voice to the dying echoes of the final notes, this was an intense, focused and polished performance and stands as much a tribute to Reilly and Mitchell and their utterly unique band as it does to the mercurial Mr Wilson.

The recording itself is lovely: one of those nights were the PA sound, the mic position and the audience all work together to create something very special.

Stream “Requiem”:

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Download complete show in mp3 format (click here)

Setlist:
Or Are You Just a Technician?/Chant
Stuki
Along Came Poppy
Brother
Catos Revisited
Quatro
Duet With Piano
The Truth
How Unbelievable
Requiem

If you download and enjoy this music, we would fully expect you to support the artists by delving into their back catalogue and attending their gigs. Further Durutti info can be found at the following, excellent, website: www.cerysmaticfactory.info and several of their releases can be bought directly from www.kookydisc.co.uk.

photo by Robin Hill

We at manchestertaper have been fans of Jane since Like an Aspen Leaf. Despite that being released almost 10 years ago, and Jane having released several more albums since, we’re almost ashamed to admit that we never got a chance to catch her live until last months’ acoustic set at the IABF (of course it didn’t help that she has never toured extensively).

From her alt-folk roots through to her more recent, darker, psych-folk offerings, there’s not a great deal we can add that’s not already been written: haunting melodies, sometimes quirky lyrics, and more recently experimental. Tonight we were treated to a relatively stripped back set (although not quite as stripped-back as the IABF gig), with projected visuals to The Fallen By Watch Bird. It was a slightly surreal experience, but it was a very well delivered and cohesive set. Our only complaint is that we would have like more older material to make up for the past 10 years we missed out on!

We are very pleased with how the recording sounds, and we hope you agree.

Stream “Silver chord”:

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Download complete show in mp3 format (click here)

Setlist:
01  intro
02  Europium alluminate
03  The fallen by watch bird
04  Majic milk
05  Turning in circles
06  Whispers of winter
07  My soul was lost, my soul was lost and no one saved me
08  Silver chord
09  Wonderous love
10  Like an aspen leaf
11  Milk money
12  Death

If you download and enjoy this music we would fully expect you to support the band by buying their records and attending their gigs. Jane’s official website is here and you can buy The Fallen By Watch Bird here.